[8] I am often amused by the indignant feelings of English journalists on
this matter. Some French newspaper calls an Englishman a lord when he is
not a lord, and our journalists are amazed at the incorrigible ignorance
of the French. If Englishmen cared as little about titles they would be
equally ignorant, and two or three other things are to be said in defence
of the French journalist that English critics _never_ take into account.
They suppose that because Gladstone is commonly called Mr. a Frenchman
ought to know that he cannot be a lord. That does not follow. In France a
man may be called Monsieur and be a baron at the same time. A Frenchman
may answer, "If Gladstone is not a lord, why do you call him one? English
almanacs not only say that Gladstone is a lord, but that he is the very
First Lord of the Treasury. Again, why am I not to speak of Sir
Chamberlain? I have seen a printed letter to him beginning with 'Sir,'
which is plain evidence that your 'Sir' is the equivalent of our
_Monsieur_." A Frenchman is surely not to be severely blamed if he is not
aware that the First Lord of the Treasury is not a lord at all, and that a
man who is called a "Sir" inside every letter addressed to him has no
right to that title on the envelope.
[9] That of M. Léopold Double.
[10] I need hardly say that this is not intended as a description of poor
men's hospitality generally, but only of the effects of poverty on
hospitality in certain cases. The point of the contrast lies in the
difference between this uncomfortable hospitality, which a lover of
pleasant human intercourse avoids, with the easy and agreeable hospitality
that the very same people would probably have offered if they had
possessed the conveniences of wealth.
[11] Italian, to me, seems Latin made natural.
[12] So far as the State and society generally are concerned; but there
are private situations in which even a member of the State Church does not
enjoy perfect religious liberty. Suppose the case (I am describing a real
case) of a lady left a widow and in poverty. Her relations are wealthy
Dissenters. They offer to provide for her handsomely if she will renounce
the Church of England and join their own sect. Does she enjoy religious
liberty? The answer depends upon the question whether she is able to earn
her own living or not. If she is, she can secure religious freedom by
incessant labor; if she is unable to earn her living she will have no
religious freedom, although she belongs, in conscience, to the most
powerful religion in the State. In the case I am thinking of, the lady had
the honorable courage to open a little shop, and so remained a member of
the Church of England; but her freedom was bought by labor and was
therefore not the same thing as the best freedom, which is unembittered by
sacrifice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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